GIANTS' NOTEBOOK / Hernandez to face mentor, Jays' Tosca

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, June 12, 2002

When Livan Hernandez started his professional career in 1996 after defecting from Cuba, he was a 21-year-old with a $6.6 million contract, an unhealthy appetite for fast food and attitude issues. Moreover, he was pitching terribly (2-4, 5.14 ERA) for the Florida Marlins' Triple-A team in Charlotte.

The organization made a brilliant decision. It demoted Hernandez to Double- A Portland, Maine, which was managed by another Cuban native named Carlos Tosca, who turned Hernandez around with tough love. Hernandez went 9-2 with a 4.34 ERA, and a year later he helped the Marlins win the World Series.

Tonight, Hernandez will try to beat Tosca, whom the Blue Jays hired as manager June 3.

"He's a tremendous, tremendous competitor and a great athlete too," Tosca said Tuesday. "He's a good hitter. I'm glad he's not hitting in this series."

In 1996, Tosca said, "I just let him know I was there to try to help him. I think the fact that I was from the same country helped, the fact I spoke the same language. One of the biggest factors was, he was around guys his own age. There were some great players there who helped him, and I tried to get him to make the right choices about his preparation, conditioning and that kind of stuff.

"When you leave a country as poor as Cuba and you're given that type of money, who knows how that would affect any of us? I think he matured some in that year."

When asked why he thought Hernandez has not lived up to his 1997 season (9- 3, 3.18 ERA), Tosca said, "I do know at times he throws too many pitches, and he is able to throw a lot of pitches. Maybe at times he falls in love with his breaking pitches too much, and I don't think he's throwing as hard now."